Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a seasoned business owner, there will always be things within your company that you wish you had help on or knowledge gaps because you can’t be an expert in everything. Our experts dive into four key areas that may not seem like a high priority right away, but if done now will help you later down the line.
Business Plan & Structure
Your structure is an essential piece of the business plan puzzle, and asking yourself the right questions from the beginning ensures your business has a strong structure from the get-go. Make sure you document the broad concepts of your business plan and discuss those plans with your accountant to help you align your structure with your overall business strategy.
Questions you should be asking yourself include:
- What’s your business purpose?
- What’s your personal “why” for launching your business?
- How big are you planning on growing?
- Who are your target clients?
- Will you have staff?
- Will you ever have business partners?
- What’s your exit strategy?
A business plan is not something you create once and never look back at again. Be aware that as your company grows and the economy changes, you may want to revisit your business plan and structure. Your accountant can help you when the time comes to make sure your new structure supports continual growth.
Tax Planning
Tax might not be at the top of your priorities but as soon as you start making good profits, you should be thinking about future tax liabilities. By working with a proactive accountant, they’ll be able to estimate what profits your business is likely to make and highlight what that will cost you in tax, and more importantly when that tax is payable.
Protect your cash flow and minimise your tax liability through effective tax planning strategies. These strategies will highlight not only future tax liabilities but when the best time is to make strategic purchases to maximise tax benefits.
Business Insurance
The cover you need in your business today versus the cover you may need in one month’s time can drastically change the price of your insurance.
There are things that should be non-negotiable for new business owners to ensure you’re adequately protected. Some industries have legislative requirements such as worker’s compensation and professional indemnity insurance. There are also commercial requirements such as leasing premises or entering into contracts. If your organisation is not covered, you may face penalties.
By working closely with an insurance broker, you’re ensuring that you will be covered for the real risks in your industry and not for something you don’t need. An insurance broker will also be able to answer your questions about when and how these insurance policies should be taken out, what needs to be covered and for how long.
Access to Funds
Many start-up businesses will struggle to gain access to capital when they need it, so any opportunity to organise your financial affairs or set aside working capital before launching will prove to be very beneficial.
The benefits of working with a finance broker who can liaise with your accountant to make sure that accounting and tax planning won’t cost you valuable capital in the years you don’t need it is huge!
Personal cash flow is important during the early stages of your business. Review your current lending structure (home loan and investment loans) for possible opportunities.
Reducing your interest rate on existing properties might be an easy way to free up cash flow. If capital is required, a broker can look at accessing equity in existing properties and structuring the loans to benefit your needs.
How Carbon can help in your start-up phase
Most of us go into business because we want to bring an idea we’re passionate about to life, not because we love spending time on accounting, tax, bookkeeping, compliance and administration. We want to give you peace of mind when working with financial advisors by making the process easier for you.
Carbon is a one-stop-shop for all things financial, offering all the core business services you need to efficiently grow your business. Have confidence knowing that we can take care of all your accounting, tax, bookkeeping, finance, payroll, R&D and grants, and financial planning needs.
What’s even better is that as small business owners ourselves, we understand the struggles of starting your own company because we’ve been there. The strategies and recommendations from our experts come from personal experience and are presented with the growth of your business in mind. Get in touch with our financial experts to discuss your business today.
